Six-foot tall "condom spokespersons" today joined ACT UP/NY at the Vatican mission to the U.N. to protest statements made
by Vatican spokesperson Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo.

The condoms attempted to deliver a letter to the Vatican, but the Vatican -- getting it backwards *again* -- seemed to think it might catch something from the condoms, and locked the gates.

Cardinal Trujillo has repeatedly insisted that condoms do not protect against HIV, using fake "facts." Speaking to the BBC, Cardinal Trujillo said, "The AIDS virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom."

When confronted with scientific research showing that intact condoms are an effective barrier against sexually transmitted diseases, Lopez Trujillo said: "They are wrong about that; this is an easily recognizable fact," according to the BBC. The BBC also reports that the Vatican has instructed priests and nuns around the world to spread the lie that condoms cannot prevent HIV transmission.

"Condoms are a basic, essential component of all successful HIV prevention programs. AIDS activists around the world struggle daily to educate the public about condom use to prevent HIV," says ACT UP/NY's Mark Milano. "Vatican disinformation about condoms and HIV is an unconscionable abuse of the Vatican's power in communities with low levels of HIV awareness. The Vatican's lie will cause countless deaths. Catholics, governments and all people of conscience must confront this lie," says Mary Mulholland of ACT UP/NY.

The Catholic Church has been accused of telling people in countries with high rates of HIV
that condoms do not protect against the deadly virus.

Using a condom
significantly reduces
the risk of contracting HIV.

The claims are made in a Panorama programme called Sex and the Holy City to be screened on BBC One on Sunday. It says cardinals, bishops, priests and nuns in four continents are saying HIV can pass through tiny holes in condoms.

The World Health Organization has condemned the comments and warned the Vatican it is putting lives at risk. The claims come just a day after a report revealed that a young person is now infected with HIV every 14 seconds.

"The statements are totally incorrect.
Latex condoms are impermeable.
They do prevent HIV transmission.".--Catherine Hankins,Chief Scientific Advisor to UNAids

According to the United Nations Population Fund, around 6,000 people between the ages of 15 and 24 catch the virus every day. Half of all new infections are now in people under the age of 25 and most of these are young women living in the developing world.

Condom advice

Health experts around the world urge people to use condoms to protect themselves from HIV and a host of sexually transmitted infections. However, the Catholic Church has consistently refused to back such calls. The Vatican is opposed to contraception and has advocated that people change their behaviour instead. But according to Panorama, the Church is now telling people that condoms do not work. In an interview, one of the Vatican's most senior cardinals Alfonso Lopez Trujillo suggested HIV could even pass through condoms. "The Aids virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom," he says.

The cardinal, who is president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, suggests that governments should urge people not to use condoms. "These margins of uncertainty...should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger." The programme includes a Catholic nun advising her HIV-infected choir master not to use condoms with his wife because "the virus can pass through". The Archbishop of Nairobi Raphael Ndingi Nzeki told Panaroma that condoms were helping to spread the virus. "Aids...has grown so fast because of the availability of condoms," he said.

In Kenya, one in five people are HIV positive

"Some priests have even been
saying that condoms are
laced with HIV/Aids".-- Gordon Wambi, Aids activist

Gordon Wambi, director of an Aids testing programme in Lwak, near Lake Victoria, told the programme that he could not distribute condoms because of opposition from the Catholic Church. "Some priests have even been saying that condoms are laced with HIV/Aids," he said. According to Panaroma, the claims about condoms are repeated by Catholics as far apart as Asia and Latin America.

Claims condemned

Catherine Hankins, chief scientific advisor to UNAids, condemned the Church's comments. "It is very unfortunate to have this type of misinformation being broadcast," she told BBC News Online. "It is a concern. From a technical point of view, the statements are totally incorrect. "Latex condoms are impermeable. They do prevent HIV transmission."

The WHO also attacked the Catholic Church's comments. "Statements like this are quite dangerous, " a spokeswoman told BBC News Online. "We are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people and currently affects around 42 million. "There is so much evidence to show that condoms don't let sexually transmitted infections like HIV through. "Anyone who says otherwise is just wrong."

The aid agency Christian Aid also attacked the Vatican's attitude. "Condoms are a straightforward and effective way of preventing HIV transmission and to suggest otherwise is dangerous," said Dr Rachel Baggaley, head of its HIV unit.

European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Poul Nielson on Sunday on BBC1's "Panorama" program said that the Vatican's position denying that condoms can effectively protect against HIV is "bringing into great danger the lives of millions" in Africa, BBC News reports. Colombian Cardinal Alfonso Trujillo, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, recently published a paper claiming that HIV can pass through condoms, according to BBC News. Trujillo supported his claims using "scientific references" (Devichand, BBC News, 6/27). Trujillo said in a previous episode of "Panorama," titled "Sex and the Holy City," which aired in October 2003, "The AIDS virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom. These margins of uncertainty ... should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger" (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 3/22). In response to Trujillo's statements, the World Health Organization said that although condoms can be less effective if they slip, break or are expired, a June 2001 review of the available literature on male condoms found that they are 90% effective at preventing HIV transmission if used consistently and properly (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 10/15/03). The Vatican prohibits the use of condoms for both contraception and protection against HIV infection, according to BBC News. Nielson said, "This is where bigotry gets into the big discussion," adding that the Vatican's position shows a "lack of love for human beings" and an "unwillingness to take their situation seriously," according to BBC News. The Vatican would not provide comment for the program, BBC News reports (BBC News 6/27).

Opinion Piece
The Vatican is "misguided" when it says that the "only realistic and long-lasting response to AIDS is a change in moral behavior," Austen Ivereigh, deputy editor of the international Catholic newspaper the Tablet, writes in an opinion piece in London's Guardian. Some Catholic aid groups say that HIV/AIDS in Africa must be combated by attacking the "roots" of the problem, including the sexual abuse of women and the lack of antiretroviral drug therapy, which they say can "break the cycle of stigma and despair which often lies behind the promiscuity and abusive behavior that cause AIDS to spiral," Ivereigh says. However, the Vatican's refusal to concede that using a condom "in some circumstances" may be "not just licit but obligatory" has "undermined" those efforts, Ivereigh says. The Vatican's "callous intransigence" on the issue of condom use to prevent HIV transmission has "muffled [the church's] own prophetic voice on AIDS and encouraged the conclusion that Christian teaching that can only be upheld at the cost of African lives does not deserve that name," Ivereigh concludes (Ivereigh, Guardian, 6/26).

Catholic Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo told the BBC last week that HIV is able to pass through a condom, making condoms poor protection against infection, an assertion disputed by activists and health officials.

U.N. agency slams cardinals comment about HIV and condoms

VATICAN CITY (AP) | The U.N. health agency is strongly contesting the reported claim of a top Vatican cardinal that condoms dont properly protect against AIDS -- a view that anti-HIV campaigners deny. The Vatican has repeatedly opposed condoms as a way to fight AIDS, saying chastity is the best way to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. The Vatican has been criticized for its opposition, particularly in poor regions of the world devastated by AIDS. The latest difference arose after Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that HIV is small enough to pass through a condom. Lopez Trujillo told the BBC, These margins of uncertainty should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger. A World Health Organization spokesperson said officials hadnt seen the BBC program yet, but said any claim that condoms dont protect against HIV is totally wrong.

The Catholic Church has been accused of warning people in African, Asian and other countries with high rates of HIV infection that condoms do not protect against the transmission of the virus, the claims come just a day after a report revealed that a young person is now infected with HIV every 14 seconds.

According to BBC report, "cardinals, bishops, priests and nuns in four continents of the church have been quoted as saying HIV can pass through tiny holes in condoms but latest warnings were made in a Panorama programme called Sex and the Holy City by one of the Vaticans most senior cardinals Alfonso Lopez Trujillo who allegedly suggests that the AIDS virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon and could pass through net formed by the condom.

Trujillo, President of the Vaticans Pontifical Council for the Family, called on governments to urge people not to use condoms.

His words "These margins of uncertainty, should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do, with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger."

In swift reaction to this claim, the World Health Organization (WHO) has condemned the comments and warned the Vatican to desist from putting lives at risk with such utterances.

A spokeswoman to WHO was quoted as saying that" Statements like this are quite dangerous"We are facing a global pandemic which has already killed more than 20 million people and currently affects around 42 million. "There is so much evidence to show that condoms dont let sexually transmitted infections like HIV through. "Anyone who says otherwise is just wrong."

Also reacting, Catherine Hankins, Chief Scientific Advisor to UNAIDS, argued that the statements by Catholic Church are totally incorrect saying that Latex condoms are impermeable. She added that latex condoms are not only good but can perfectly prevent HIV transmission from one person to another during sex.

According to her, " "It is very unfortunate to have this type of misinformation being broadcast, "It is a concern. From a technical point of view, the statements are totally incorrect. "Latex condoms are impermeable. They do prevent HIV transmission."

Meanwhile, several anti - AIDS campaigns have also condemned the call by the Vatican arguing that condoms are straightforward and effective way of preventing HIV transmission and to suggest otherwise is dangerous.

However, the claim by the Catholic Church is already having effect on the condom distribution activities of some anti HIV/AIDS programmes.

Efforts to get a reaction from Catholic Secretariat in Lagos were unsuccessful as at press time.

There are many things to be said against condoms, and most people reading this have probably said them all. But at least they work. Not perfectly--they slip, they break, they require more forethought and finesse and cooperation and trust than is easy to bring to sex every single time, and, a major drawback in this fallen world, they place women's safety in the hands of men. But for birth control they are a whole lot better than the rhythm method or prayer or nothing, and for protection from sexually transmitted diseases they are all we have. This is not exactly a controversial statement; people have been using condoms as a barrier against disease as long as rubber has been around (indeed, before--as readers of James Boswell's journals know). You could ask a thousand doctors--ten thousand doctors--before you'd find one who said, Condoms? Don't bother.

But what do doctors know? Or the Centers for Disease Control, or the World Health Organization, or the American Foundation for AIDS Research (Amfar)? These days, the experts on condoms are politicians, preachers and priests, and the word from above is: Condoms don't work. That is what students are being taught in the abstinence-only sex ed favored by the religious right and funded by the Bush Administration--$117 million of your annual tax dollars at work. The theory is that even mentioning condoms, much less admitting that they dramatically reduce the chances of pregnancy or HIV infection, sends a "mixed message" about the value of total abstinence until marriage. How absurd--it's like saying that seat belts send a mixed message about the speed limit or vitamin pills send a mixed message about vegetables. Anti-condom propaganda can backfire, too: True, some kids may be scared away from sex although probably not until marriage; others, though, hear only a reason to throw caution to the winds. According to a 2002 Human Rights Watch report on abstinence-only sex ed in Texas, a condoms-don't-work ad campaign led sexually active teens to have unprotected sex: "My boyfriend says they don't work. He heard it on the radio." Why is the Bush Administration giving horny teenage boys an excuse to be sexually selfish? You might as well have high school teachers telling them using a condom during sex is like taking a shower in a raincoat.

Now it seems the Vatican is joining fundamentalist Protestants to spread the word against condoms around the globe. "To talk of condoms as 'safe sex' is a form of Russian roulette," said Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Vatican's office on the family. On the BBC Panorama program "Sex and the Holy City," Lopez Trujillo explained, "The AIDS virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom." That latex has holes or pores through which HIV (or sperm) can pass is a total canard. A National Institutes of Health panel that included anti-condom advocates examined the effectiveness of condoms from just about every perspective, including strength and porosity; according to its report, released in July 2001, latex condoms are impermeable to even the smallest pathogen. Among STDs, HIV is actually the one condoms work best against. "We're all a bit stunned by Lopez Trujillo's lack of respect for scientific consensus," Dr. Judith Auerbach of Amfar, who sat on the NIH panel, told me. "Where do his numbers come from?" Is Lopez Trujillo, who even suggests putting warnings on condoms like those on cigarettes, a loose cannon such as can be found in even the best regulated bureaucracies? According to "Sex and the Holy City," in Africa, where HIV infects millions--20 percent in Kenya, 40 percent in Botswana, 34 percent in Zimbabwe--Catholic clergy, who oppose condoms as they do all contraception, are actively promoting the myth that condoms don't prevent transmission of the virus and may even spread it. The Guardian quotes the archbishop of Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi Nzeki, as saying: "AIDS...has grown so fast because of the availability of condoms." Thus is a decade of painstaking work to mainstream and normalize condom use undone by the conscious promotion of an urban legend.

When the Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded to Shirin Ebadi, the first ever to a Muslim woman, an Iranian and a crusader for women's rights, not everyone was thrilled. What about Pope John Paul II, now celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of his election, and possibly near death? "This...was his year," wrote David Brooks in his New York Times column, a hymn of praise for the Pope as the defender of "the whole and the indivisible dignity of each person." A few pages over, Peter Steinfels said much the same in his religion column: "Is there any other leader who has so reshaped the political world for the better and done it peacefully?" More knowledgeable people than I can debate how much credit the Pope should get for the fall of Communism--I always thought it was Ronald Reagan with an unintentional assist from Gorbachev plus the internal collapse of the system itself. With the crucial exception of Poland, the countries in the old Soviet bloc aren't even Roman Catholic, or are so only partially. Whatever his contribution to that historic set of events, though, the Pope is on the wrong side of history now. Women's equality, sexual rights for all, the struggle of the individual against authoritarian religion and of course the global AIDS epidemic--the Pope has been a disaster on all these crucial issues of our new century. It's all very well for David Brooks to mock those who critique the Pope for his "unfashionable views on abortion," as if 78,000 women a year dying in illegal procedures around the world was just something to chat about over brie and chablis. But add it up: a priesthood as male as the Kuwaiti electorate--even altar girls may be banned soon, according to one recent news story--no divorce, no abortion, no contraception, no condom use even within a faithful marriage to prevent a deadly infection.

It's bad enough to argue that condoms are against God's will while millions die. But to maintain, falsely, that they are ineffective in order to discourage their use is truly immoral. If not insane.

THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR THE FAMILYTHE TRUTH AND MEANING OF HUMAN SEXUALITYGuidelines for Education within the Family website

Paragraph 139

"Another abuse occurs whenever sex education is given to children
by teaching them all the intimate details of genital relationships, even in a
graphic way. Today this is often motivated by wanting to provide education
for 'safe sex', above all in relation to the spread of AIDS. In this
situation, parents must also reject the promotion of so-called 'safe sex'
or 'safer sex', a dangerous and immoral policy based on the deluded theory
that the condom can provide adequate protection against AIDS. Parents must
insist on continence outside marriage and fidelity in marriage as the only
true and secure education for the prevention of this contagious disease."

Vatican City, December 8, 1995

Incredibly, on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2003
the Vatican continues to justify its "morality" Death Dogma

VATICAN CITY, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The Vatican on Monday issued a strong defence of its controversial position against condoms, saying fidelity, chastity and abstinence were the best ways to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in a "pan-sexualist society." A top cardinal issued a five-page statement on World AIDS Day to hammer home the Vatican's position, which has drawn criticism from many quarters.

In a message addressed to Catholics, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, called for new ways of helping people change lifestyles. "We have to present this as the main way for the effective prevention of infection and spread of HIV/AIDS, since the phenomenon of AIDS is a pathology of the spirit...," he said.

The Roman Catholic church opposes artificial contraception -- including condoms, which it says promote promiscuity. The five-page message spoke of the "importance of respecting the religious and moral values of sexuality and matrimony, namely fidelity, chastity and abstinence."

Barragan, who is Mexican, invited "each and every one to step up prevention according to the doctrine of the Church, to practice the virtue of chastity in a pan-sexualist society." He said AIDS campaigns should be based on "sure and authentic human and spiritual values, capable of establishing relevant education in favour of the culture of life and responsible love." In a clear reference to condoms, he said information campaigns should not be "based on policies that foster immoral and hedonistic lifestyles and behaviour, favouring the spread of the evil."

Two months ago, another top Vatican cardinal raised controversy even within the Church by saying that the HIV/AIDS virus could be spread even if condoms were used. Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, said that relying on condoms to stop AIDS was like "betting on your own death."

The World Health Organisation (WHO), guardian watchdog of global wellbeing, rejected that view, saying condoms can reduce the risk of infection by 90 percent. Lopez-Trujillo was also criticised by Brazil's health minister and AIDS activists.

In his message on Monday, Barragan also took a swipe at the media, suggesting that it promoted immoral lifestyles. "If the main risk behaviours are pan-sexualism and drug addiction, then poverty, urbanisation, unemployment, mobility immigration and mass media are major contributing factors in the spread of the disease," he said.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - AIDS activists, health officials and even some quarters of the Catholic Church criticized the Vatican on Tuesday for defending its opposition to condoms. Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan said in a message to mark World Aids Day on Monday that fidelity, chastity and abstinence were the best ways to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

"It's very disappointing because the Catholic Church's irrational stance on condoms undermines the very good work that the Catholic Church does with regards to caring for people with HIV...," said Nathan Geffen in South Africa. Geffen, national manager of Treatment Action Campaign, South Africa's foremost group of AIDS activists, echoed comments by others who work with HIV/AIDS sufferers in Africa.

The Church opposes contraception, including condoms, which it says promote promiscuity. Criticism has increased as the number of AIDS victims soars. "By not supporting the use of condoms and not advocating the use of condoms as one of the preventative measures I would say that the Catholic Church is helping the spread of a deadly disease," Morten Rostrup, president of the international council of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), said in Nairobi. "We know condoms are one of the best ways of preventing the disease. We are surely not opposed to behavioral changes. But to advocate against the use of condoms as a preventative measure ... is totally unacceptable from a moral, ethical and medical perspective," he said.

"HEDONISTIC LIFESTYLES"

In his message for World AIDS Day, Cardinal Barragan made a clear reference to condoms, saying information campaigns should not be "based on policies that foster immoral and hedonistic lifestyles and behavior, favoring the spread of the evil."

AIDS activists rejected this. "They should reconsider their position for the sake of us Africans and everyone else who has the disease," said Gitura Mwaura, chairman of Kenya Coalition for Access to Essential Medicines. "It's time they pulled their heads out of the sand because this is a serious situation. Promoting abstinence has to date not worked but condoms have provided some protection," he said.

While the Vatican was urging Catholics to shun condoms, a U.S. Catholic group was rebelling against the Vatican message. Catholics for a Free Choice, an independent organization, launched a global campaign called "Good Catholics Use Condoms." The campaign, launched on Monday in the Washington D.C. metro, includes posters that will not please the Vatican. Two show smiling young heterosexual couples above a message reading: "We believe in God. We believe that sex is sacred. We believe in caring for each other. We believe in using condoms." The group, which the Vatican says is not an official representation of Catholicism, also produced a booklet called: Sex in the HIV/AIDS Era -- A Guide for Catholics. "We cannot stand by and let the Vatican go unchallenged with its irresponsible attitude toward condoms and Catholics," said Frances Kisslings, the group's president. "Cardinals and bishops must promote a culture of life in which responsible sexuality and AIDS prevention are linked, not a culture of death which will result in more AIDS ravaged communities, especially in the developing world," she said.

(Additional reporting by William Maclean in Nairobi and Ed Stoddard in Johannesburg)

World Health Organization slams cardinal condom claim
From correspondents in Vatican City

THE UN health agency is strongly contesting the reported claim of a top Vatican cardinal that condoms don't properly protect against AIDS - a view that anti-HIV campaigners deny strongly. The Vatican has repeatedly opposed condoms as a way to fight AIDS, saying chastity is the best way to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. The Vatican has been criticised for its opposition, particularly in poor regions of the world devastated by AIDS.

The latest difference arose after Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, told the BBC the HIV virus is small enough to pass through a condom. The BBC released a partial transcript of his comments, some of which will be broadcast today in a documentary called Panorama - Sex and the Holy City. "The AIDS virus is roughly 450 times smaller than the spermatozoon. The spermatozoon can easily pass through the 'net' that is formed by the condom," Lopez Trujillo is quoted as saying in the BBC interview late last month. "These margins of uncertainty should represent an obligation on the part of the health ministries and all these campaigns to act in the same way as they do with regard to cigarettes, which they state to be a danger."

A World Health Organisation spokeswoman said officials hadn't seen the BBC program yet, but said any claim that condoms don't protect against HIV is "totally wrong". "When you use a condom badly so that it breaks or slips or it is past its 'use-by date', it is not very effective," spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said. "Two years ago, in June 2001, there was a big study that reviewed all the literature on male condoms. This study showed that condoms are 90 per cent effective against HIV/AIDS infection, and the other 10 per cent is when they were used wrongly," Chaib said. "It is quite dangerous to claim the contrary when you realise that today we are facing an epidemic which has already killed 20 million people and 42 million people are infected today."

Lopez Trujillo told the BBC: "There are several doctors on our pontifical council, and these people have studied this matter, and they have also given instruction through various published articles, so we have not seen any denial of this fact at the level of medicine." When confronted with scientific research showing that intact condoms are an effective barrier against sexually transmitted diseases, Lopez Trujillo said: "They are wrong about that; this is an easily recognisable fact," according to the BBC.

Dr Thomas Quinn, an HIV expert speaking on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said several scientific studies show the virus cannot pass through condoms. "The mechanical barrier is 100 per cent except when there are tears or breaks, so they are absolutely incorrect," he said. "They are going to need to come up with scientific proof to prove that statement wrong because there is a multitude of publications that show that the virus cannot pass through the latex of the condom."

Lopez Trujillo had no immediate comment. Last year, the Vatican repeated its opposition to condoms. Monsignor Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Workers, acknowledged that to some, the Vatican position may sound "ridiculous in the society in which we live". But he said there was only one way to prevent AIDS and the HIV virus from spreading. "We say that prevention ... is called chastity." The church has argued that condoms don't offer 100 per cent protection and only contribute to what Barragan called a "pan-sexual" society in which sex has been separated into an act of pleasure or procreation.

Regarding the death of Pope John Paul II, we are sorry Karol Wojtyla did not live long enough to change the Church Dogma affecting people around the world, putting them at greater risk for HIV/AIDS.